Standing beneath Hokage Rock, the iconic landmark that featured throughout Naruto, Uchiha Shingetsu looked up at the giant stone likeness of Hashirama Senju. In that instant, memories of her previous life intertwined with reality, stirring a tumult of emotions within her.
Unlike in the anime, Hashirama Senju's head stood all alone on Hokage Rock. In this era, when even Tsunade had yet to be born, the four future shinobi world wars and Naruto, the destined Child of Prophecy, were still distant stories. The Battle of the Valley of the End and Hashirama Senju's subsequent death, however, were truly looming.
Shingetsu lowered her gaze and silently looked at Madara Uchiha, who was likewise studying Hashirama's head with a thoughtful expression. In the end, Konoha could never be the haven of peace he envisioned. Even without Black Zetsu's interference, Madara Uchiha would probably leave eventually.
Madara's love and hatred were so extreme that compromise had never had a place in his life. Yet the Uchiha Clan, already accustomed to a stable existence, would surely refuse to follow their clan leader. When that time came, Madara would likely be alone again, then sink into darkness.
Recalling Madara's utterly miserable later years in the story, along with his earth-shattering campaign for world peace after his resurrection that had nearly destroyed the shinobi world, Shingetsu felt her scalp prickle. She suddenly felt an unimaginably heavy burden resting on her young shoulders.
Fine. For the sake of peace in the shinobi world, I'll go with him when the time comes. Old folks are so easily exploited by people with ulterior motives if they don't have a youngster around to keep an eye on them.
But until then, my foolish master, just be a good boy and serve as my wallet and my mount!
With that thought, Uchiha Shingetsu, now determined to become a rogue ninja of Konoha, tugged at Madara's sleeve. She stretched out a little hand and pointed toward impoverished Konoha's one and only dessert shop. Meeting his gaze, she tilted up her sweet, adorable face, her large black eyes gleaming with hope and anticipation, and wheedled in a voice sweet enough to drip honey:
"Master, Master, I want dango!"
On Konoha's bleak main street, every passerby stared with eyes wide in disbelief and mouths open almost as wide. Their faces were so contorted with shock that they looked as though they had seen God in broad daylight.
Yet the reason for their astonishment was far more surreal than seeing God-that Madara Uchiha was actually strolling through the streets with a child in his arms?!
Who in Konoha hadn't heard of Madara Uchiha?
He was the battlefield asura who could take on the entire shinobi world alone, the mighty warrior who dared show contempt for a daimyo despite being a ninja, a towering figure who stood at the very pinnacle of this era. Whether they were common villagers or ninja born into shinobi clans, they had long regarded such a man as an inviolable god, looking up to him while keeping a respectful distance.
That was how those at the bottom survived. After all, one stamp of a god's foot was enough to destroy ants like them.
But now, the very Madara Uchiha they saw as a god and an asura, a man they all but wanted to prostrate themselves before, was casually walking down the street with a beautiful, doll-like little girl in his arms and a large bunch of dango in his hand. And he was actually eating the dango?!
Madara Uchiha, oh, Madara Uchiha, do you still remember your title as the Asura of the Ninja World? How are you any different right now from that idiot Senju over there holding his daughter's hand?
The Konoha villagers' inner commentary surged like a raging tide, washing away their mental defenses. Its target, however, received none of their telepathic signals and continued swaggering leisurely through the streets.
Uchiha Shingetsu nestled obediently in Madara's arms, staring wide-eyed at the bizarre sights around her before she couldn't help looking disdainful. Unlike the steel jungle of towering buildings in her previous life or the classical Japanese style of the Uchiha Clan Compound, Konoha's architecture leaned toward the outlandish, grotesque, and rustic.
The plump, round Hokage building resembled a teapot with a tanuki inside. Huge swaths of red, green, and yellow clashed together, bearing a strong resemblance to the Senju Clan's tacky aesthetic. Low, single-story houses and towering trees were everywhere, making her feel as though she had wandered into the homeland of the kappa.
Although Konoha was called a village, its population and land area made "city" a more fitting description. Poor and rustic to an almost unbearable degree though it was, traces of its future prosperity were already visible. The people passing by wore plain but thoroughly clean clothes. Their faces and eyes shone with vigor and vitality, and that hope for a better life was something people living amid war could never possess.
Shingetsu quietly looked away. Konoha had never been a utopia, but it had indeed become a refuge for many. She couldn't deny its darkness, yet neither could she dismiss its very existence as Madara later would.
Sigh. Such complicated feelings.
Taking a skewer of dango from Madara's hand, Shingetsu viciously bit into a soft, sticky rice dumpling. It's all Kishimoto's fault. What does he know about Naruto? What the hell kind of plot did he draw? Now that I've transmigrated, I spend every day scared out of my wits, and all I get to eat is this damned dango!
Objectively speaking, the dango coated in soybean flour and brown sugar syrup were sweet, soft, and delicious, with a delightfully chewy texture. But as the only dessert available in Konoha, and in limited quantities at that, they were all the sweets-obsessed Shingetsu could eat day after day to keep herself going.
Even the tastiest food would eventually become tiresome. Worse still, Konoha's dango came in only one flavor. There wasn't even red bean dango, let alone the famous three-colored kind. Unable to give up sweets and with no other desserts to choose from, Shingetsu had no choice but to survive on dango she was already sick of.
Damn it! This life is torture for someone with a sweet tooth!
Just as Shingetsu was concentrating on tackling the detestable rice dumplings, Madara, who had been carrying her all over the place, suddenly stopped.
The softly gleaming jewelry and hairpins at a roadside stall caught his eye. Before everyone's watching eyes, he reached out as though no one else were there and sifted through the gold, jade, and gemstones. Finally, he selected a black wooden hairpin set with a ruby and slipped it diagonally into Shingetsu's hair.
At that moment, the people of Konoha's jaws successfully detached themselves from their faces. The poor jaws hit the ground one after another with countless crisp clatters.
With her mouth stuffed full of dango, Shingetsu couldn't speak. She chewed the sticky rice a few times and blinked her shiny black eyes innocently. Her fine, soft baby hair couldn't support the hairpin at all, and it soon fell out.
Madara caught the falling hairpin in time, sparing it from being smashed to pieces. He carefully pinned it into Shingetsu's hair again, and thanks to his precise placement, it stayed put this time. Yet soybean flour and brown sugar syrup covered her face. Her once fair, soft features now made her look like a little smudged kitten, and the beautiful hairpin Madara had so painstakingly chosen looked comically out of place on her head.
"Hmph. You've got food all over your face. No table manners whatsoever."
Madara Uchiha poked Shingetsu's round cheek disdainfully. Leaving the hairpins aside, he turned to the other jewelry and enthusiastically tried each piece on her.
Is he playing some kind of real-life dress-up game?
Shingetsu's mouth twitched. Madara's expression looked exactly like hers when she had played dress-up games in her previous life, only this time she had unfortunately become the heroine. Like a Nikki player in the grip of compulsive obsession, Madara stopped bothering to choose and simply tried everything on her one piece at a time. The crowd's stares stabbed straight into Shingetsu's face like needles. From this day onward, she would probably be a major Konoha celebrity.
Compared with Shingetsu's mixed emotions and those of the watching villagers, Madara Uchiha's thoughts at that moment were actually very simple. He merely felt that Shingetsu should have everything other girls had, and that she deserved the very best.
Children born in the Warring States era had no childhood. Madara Uchiha's youth, in particular, had been shrouded in the darkness of war and the grief of losing brothers and loved ones one after another. Perhaps even he hadn't realized how deeply worried his gaze always became when he looked at Shingetsu.
Could such a tiny, fragile life really grow up safely?
"L-L-Lord Madara!"
A trembling wail interrupted Madara Uchiha's thoughts. He looked toward its source: the unfortunate stallholder who had been standing there the entire time. Now the man gazed at him fearfully, his hand shaking as though he had Parkinson's as he struggled to point at Madara and the jade bracelet crushed to dust in his hand.
"..."
Madara shook the jade dust from his hand without expression. Seizing the opportunity, Shingetsu hurriedly swallowed another skewer's worth of dango in his arms.
"I'll take all of these. How much?"
"N-no need to pay..."
Under Madara's gaze, the poor vendor was on the verge of tears. How could he dare take Madara Uchiha's money? Did he have a death wish?
The wealthy Madara Uchiha had no interest in freebies, however. He took out a dozen or so gold coins and tossed them to the vendor, then bundled up the jewelry and hairpins and strode away with Shingetsu in his arms. Left behind, the vendor clutched the gold coins while he and the onlookers stared blankly after Madara.
Everything that had just happened had shattered their understanding of the world. They needed a little time to reattach the jaws they had dropped on the ground.
"Lord Madara... was taking his daughter shopping?"
An unidentified onlooker voiced that observation, and everyone suddenly understood.
Of course. Madara Uchiha is human too. Humans have feelings and desires. Humans have bonds and families. He's already that age, and Lord Hashirama, who's of his generation, has a son. Isn't it perfectly normal for Madara to have a daughter?
"Lord Madara's daughter is so cute! And her table manners really are awful. Pfft, hahaha!"
"I only noticed today how handsome Lord Madara is! Much more handsome than Lord Hashirama."
The silent crowd suddenly erupted into an unprecedented flurry of gossip and laughter. People joked about Madara looking like a doting, silly father and his goofy, adorable "daughter," even daring to discuss amusing stories about the Uchiha Clan. The Uchiha and the village, which had always stood apart, somehow grew much closer amid all that laughter and teasing.
Before you continue